


The mistake and the correction

by Pearlislove



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Classic Who Secret Santa, Fluff and Angst, multi-sub fandom mess extraordinair, tiny bit of crack, tiny inspo from dickens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:47:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21771676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pearlislove/pseuds/Pearlislove
Summary: Iris Wildthyme is at it again! No, not the booze; well, yes, the booze, but still. That's not the important bit. She's going through the stars in that bus of hers, talking to (what seems to be) air, when the thud of a lifetime shifts the bus out of it's set path. At first she'd become a tad bit angry, but then she noticed the bits of broken blue wood floating around the space outside the windows.
Relationships: Josie Day/Eighth Doctor, The Doctor & Iris Wildthyme
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	1. The start of a very bad day

**Author's Note:**

> Written for The-Truest-Rassilonian on Tumblr for the 2019 Classic Who Secret Santa. The summary is their original plot, and I hope they will like what I did with it.

Getting off the floor and standing on unsteady legs, Iris starred with big eyes at the debris floating through space outside the windows of the buss.

Dark blue paint on broken pieces of wood float by, all of it dented and bent to the point disrepair, and Iris can feel the entire Universe shuddering around her the moment crystallize in the timeline. Or was it just the trembling of her own body?

"Panda!" She scream for him, looking around her in a wild panic that probably doesn't appear quite as foreign as it feels. "Panda where you are you?!"

"I am right here Iris, no need to get your panties in twist" Panda comes walking out of his own corner of the TARDIS, comfortably strolling through the corridors with a cup of coffee in his paw. "Really, Iris, I was trying to have a good old...my god!" He see the window, and like her, he shout. "Is that…?" 

Like her, he barely dare to believe his eyes at the broken TARDIS pieces passing by.

"I thought it was all clear galaxy. Just gonna plow right ahead and then..." Iris voice fails her, but not because of the horror of the situation, but the mental slap that hit her against the back of her consciousness.

_IRI….ssss...H...eee...P! Ta...aaaa...RDI...sss...IRIS HELP!_

Iris had never considered herself very talented telepathically. She could, like any other Time Lord or Lady, communicate that way, but she rarely did. This time, however, the static noise and inconsistent nature of the message is not her fault, and the last part comes through so strong and clear she thinks her brain might just explode.

She want to scream and fall to the floor, but she is already so far detached from her body that it feels impossible.

"Iris! Iris what are you doing" Panda's soft paws hit on her back and shake her arm, his voice becoming more panicked as she fails to respond, entirely caught up in the noise in her head.

The Doctor is calling her, and she knows that she needs to do what he tells her. She has to save him.

When she finally came out of it, Uris knows they still have a chance to save something or someone. She is certain, that all is not yet lost. “Panda! Fix the scanners, they need to be searching for life. Human and alien”

She flip switches and press buttons, but nothing really happens until Panda get his paws on it all, easily showing her the two faint life signs right in front of them.

"They're out there, Iris" Panda’s voice is much softer than normal, his big dark eyes staring at her sadly. “They are still alive”

Iris doesn’t know what to answer. She is torn between hope and despair, worried that she will be let down if she dare to believe in miracles.

Then again, wasn’t The Doctor a miracle in and of himself?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! This time things are actually starting to happen!

Hardly surprising, the companion is a young woman. Her blue and pink hair stretches out like an ocean around her head, contrasting with her worryingly pale skin as she rest on the floor.

One thought immediately rush to Iris head, and it is not a good one.

"Oh, please don't be dead. If you do you will break The Doctor, sugar" Iris mumbles her quiet hope, crouching by the body to feel her pulse. Just looking at the still body, she is not hopeful. "He doesn't need more heartache" Luckily, a weak beat can be felt under her fingers, and she breath out.

"Iris!"

Panda's voice snap her out of the short moment of relief, and she glances over to see his paws hitting against The Doctor's face, fruitlessly trying to rouse him from his slumber.

"Is she alive?" Panda presses on, his paws still working as he look Iris in the eye.

Iris swallows, and nod. "Yes. Is he?" She doesn't want to ask, too afraid of the bad news that might come, but she has little choice.

"Yes. Two beats and no artron energy that i can see" Panda's response is rap and short-winded, then "Iris, this shouldn't be possible"

"What's not possible? It's The Doctor, Panda! He can do anything" She looks at the young woman that came with him, her head now safely rested in Iris lap. "You're safe now, sugar" She pulls her hands through the multi colored hair, comforting even as the body remained lifeless.

Panda stood up, stumbling his way past The Doctor to her. "Iris, the TARDIS is literally shattered shards of wood floating by the windows of the buss! Even The Doctor should not have escaped that unharmed." He states seriously, hoping he can make Iris see sense by way of visual support. He knows The Doctor close to her hearts and a dangerous topic in every way, but it needs to be talked about. "We should not have just found him...floating in a bubble in the debris of his own ship!"

Iris glared at him, her “What are you saying, Panda? Because it sounds like you’re getting real close to pushing my buttons, love!” Iris feel anger flaring in her gut, red hot rage washing over her like a tidal wave. “He is  _ alive,  _ it is  _ good _ !"

_ Panda will never understand...he does not see nor feel what you do, dear Miss Wildthyme...he is Panda, not you _

Hearing the voice whispering in her ear, Iris turns around immediately. "Doctor?" She asks, looking over at him only to find him still passed out. 

An attempt at approaching his mind shows it is off bounds, and Iris wonders what is happening. She had gone crazy many times before, but hearing The Doctor speaking to her as part of her delusions was a new one.

_ Haha, she thinks we're actually here...she doesn't even know who we are  _

Another voice tease in her other ear, and Iris twist her head the other way, expecting to be seeing someone new as she does not recognize it.

There's no one there, and this time Iris feels a little worried.

_ Don't worry, sugar. The Doctor will be fine  _ A third voice, sweeter and gentler than the other two, enters her head, and this time Iris feels hot breath on her neck.

It does not take long before the feeling of the other woman's breath is accompanied by the feeling of a strong hand against her shoulder, and when she glances upwards, an old man smiles down on her.

"Stand up?" He ask gently, moving his hand from her shoulder and offering it to her instead.

"Thanks, love" She takes it, heaving herself up on her feet only to realize that the buss has disappeared, white nothingness now surrounding them for as far as the eye could see. "You'd be 'im, wouldn't ya? Another face" She questions, knowing from the sound of his voice that he is The Doctor.

There's a dark void in his eyes that only seem to get deeper and more pronounced when the question is posed, but he does answer. "No, I am not. " The outright dismissal of what Iris knows to be true is followed by a smile. "I am not a Doctor" 

The smile awakens a dangerous glimmer in the empty voids that seem to replace his soul, and on instinct Iris draw back, stepping backwards until her back hits against something or someone.

"Watch your step!" Rough hands push back against Iris, sending her stumbling forward. "I can't believe we're trusting the Universe in her hands! Her last brain cells drowned in a ginger-spiked gin and tonic!"

Iris looked over her shoulder, seeing the sharp and angry eyes of another old friend. "Ushas!" She exclaimed, overtaken by shook at the surprise encounter. "What are you doing here?" The Doctor, Iris could understand. To have him pulled into her insanity was new but not unexpected.

The Rani, his cold and callous classmate, on the other hand, was a completely unexpected happening.

"Only old Brax missin' now, I reckon…" She mumbled, allowing for her legs to give in and her to fall back to the floor. Her head was spinning and the entire dream was confusing her.

This wasn't her normal loss of reality.

"Jessabelle" A soft, glove clad hand rest between her shoulder blades, the touch immediately making her relax as it hit just the right spot. 

But despite her body relaxing, her mind was all the more suspicious. She knew only one person knew both the touch and the name, and when she looked up this time a young woman looks down on her. The woman, she discovers in horror, is far too familiar. "Iris" She answers, smirking.

The woman smirked back. "Call us what you want, it does not matter. You need to listen to me - this is not a delusion. It is a warning" The woman finish speaking and she back off again, giving room for the new version of The Doctor.

"Something has gone very wrong in your version of the multiverse." He begin, his face grave and serious. "The Doctor will die too soon if you do not prevent it, and the Universe will die with him." The man explained, and something on his face told Iris he rather thought that would be the favorable outcome, if he could decide. 

"No! That's not right. Panda checked him. He was fine!" She protests, knowing they must be wrong. Panda had said all was fine.  _ Panda _ was never wrong.

The Doctor shook his head. "It is just a matter of time. Before he has time to wake up, both his hearts will fail. He  _ will _ die, and the Universe with him." 

Iris stares at him, listening to his words, but not taking in the information. The idea of the Doctor dying simply did not process at all.

"She is never going to realize what we mean!" From a corner of the white void, The Rani throws in her ten cent, angrily making her way towards Iris. "Let's just show her what the hell she needs to do and dump her back in the right place"

The Doctor and Iris' former regeneration nodded in agreeance. 

"You first" The Doctor offered. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still here, posting. About 2 more chapters to go.

"Doctor! Doctor what's wrong?" The Doctor's blue-haired companion has a voice that is sweet and kind, her face filled with honest worry as she comes rushing into the console room from one of the many side corridors. "What is wrong with you, old girl?" She then asks, her eyes drifting up to the column moving slowly in the middle of the console. The strained groaning of the machinery and the flash red light warns the onlookers of it's failure.

The Doctor, already tearing into the wiring through the hole left after he removed one of the large panels that protected the steering system, does not seem to do much better. "I don't understand it! I did the maintenance just the other day, she shouldn't be doing this.." He tear more ferociously at the cables, pulling them out by the fistful as he went, before the TARDIS decided to zap him in vengence. "Ah!"

Carefully approaching the mad scientist, the companion smiled sadly. "Doctor calm down. You need to focus." Wrapping her arms around him, the girl reached up and kissed The Doctor on the cheek. Her eyes were full of love, telling Iris more than she needed to know. "You can do this, Doctor. I know you can. You just need to  _ focus.  _ Tell me what are you doing with those cables?"

The Doctor sighed, leaning back against the gentle touch, twisting so he could kiss her back, on the lips this time. "Thank you Josie" He smiled, then he turned back to the wires. "I just think I need to…"

Iris never get to hear what he needs to do, because before the events can finish unfolding she is pulled off the floor and her younger self is dragging her along, away from the scene and onto the next.

They run for a long long time, before suddenly stopping in the middle of muddy darkness. Iris and her younger self stand there, looking around, and then her other self call out. "Doctor? It is your turn now!" She says, glancing over to Iris with pity. "Do you understand what is happening yet?"

"No" Iris shook her head. "You are all more than a bit doolally, and I would like to go home to Panda!" Finally fed up, she pulls free of her own grip and try to run, aiming for somewhere straight out into the murky darkness that surround them.

She is only stopped as she collided head first with The Doctor.

"You can't leave Iris. Not until you understand why what happened can't happen."

"Why does there have to be a reason?" Iris countered. "I don't want you to die, Thete! I never wanted anybody die. Why can't that be motivation enough?!" She felt desperate, angry to see The Doctor flinch at his own name. "What did they do to you?" 

The Doctor smiled sadly. "Spoilers" He whispered. Then, he turned around, walking back out into the murky white nothingness.

Like a little child, frightened and lonely without anyone to trust, Iris followed him. Her other self was long gone and she had no idea what would happen of she didn't follow The Doctor, so she simply relented and did. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can not believe I left this fanfic for 6+ months and never finished wow. Im some piece of work huh?

“Where are we going now?” She asks The Rani, trying and struggling to keep even steps with the tall woman next to her. Ushas has said nothing since she threatened to leave them behind, and the two of them simply keep on trudging through a murky void. "You can at least tell me as much!"

"Fine" The Rani stops, standing in place before turning around to face Iris. "I am taking you back where you came from. We've shown you the future, and the past. All that is left is the present. That means that you, Iris, will need to do the right thing."

"And you would know all about what's right, now would you?" She mocks her, not knowing quite sure why but thinking it has to do with the great unrest that she feels thinking back to what she had just seen.

"No" The Rani shakes her head, as bluntly honest as always. "I only know that we have to trust you to stop the multiverse from exploding due to the inhalation of multiple fixed points. It would be most gruesome and I would rather not go out like that, so I'm hoping you'll gather your senses and do it right."

Iris swallowed, and nodded. If she was ever going to trust The Rani, now would be the time.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand we're done! Finally!

When Iris wake up, The Doctor and his blue-haired companion are gone. Her floor is empty and all she can see out of her window is the glittering galactic darkness for as long as the eyes will see.

"Where to next, Iris?"

Unlike before, Panda is sitting on a sofa behind the driver, and his black plastic eyes stare her curiously in the neck.

Iris doesn't hesitate. She grabs the shift and put the bus in reverse, feet on the gas and her hand pulling the wheel to the left as hard as she could. 

"Anywhere but here!"

The hole buss jerks and twitches, throwing Iris around so hard that she flies backwards out of her seat, knocking Panda to the floor with her.

"Iris! What is the world has come over you?!" Panda growell angrily, crawling out from under her butt with as much dignity as a squished toy panda could. "Have you lost your head completely?"

Iris grinned. "Maybe a little" 

**Author's Note:**

> Like and comment please!


End file.
